Friday, July 08, 2005

Rethinking FeedDemon by Subscription

In all seriousness, your feedback has resulted in an awful lot of re-thinking within NewsGator, and I've personally been involved in several very thoughtful discussions about what to do. The end result? We've listened, and we're changing our plan.

We've heard loud and clear that you don't want FeedDemon to stop working after your subscription runs out. You believe that you purchased it, so it should continue to work. Period.

And we agree.

Because of comments posted here, we're going to change FeedDemon so that it does not stop working after your subscription runs out. You'll still be able to read your feeds and download new items. As many of you suggested, more than likely we'll disable features that rely on the subscription service (basically, synching and other pieces that tie into NewsGator's online services), but everything else will continue to work (forever, if you like).

I was disappointed with the initial change and voiced my opinion. I am glad to know that feedback matters. This change shows the high quality of support and the willingness to listen to the software client base that Brad (and now NewsGator) has show all along.

I have had nothing but good things to say about the support I have received from Brad regarding FeedDemon and have seen other people say the same thing over and over. This is just another example of great support.

Most companies say "we listen to our customers," but do whatever they want anyway. I am happy and amazed there are companies out there that actually do listen.

This is a perfect example of how better communication and "transparency" can turn a potential angry mob into a group of satisfied customers.

I was beginning to have reservations about this merger but was more than willing to use my 2 years to see how it went. I feel much better about this whole situation now. Thanks Nick and NewsGator for listening and finding a solution everyone can be happy with.

Personally I would have been fine with the original subscription model providing that the subscription only version did not come into play until a new major version (and therefore more of my money for the new version).

I must say that I am very impressed with change though. It isn't often you see a company make such a radical change just from listening to their users. Normally money speaks louder than a handful of users.

Well done to everyone who was involved with the decision at NewsGator. What a nice start to the weekend :)

When I read about the subscription model it didn't bother me at first as I am fully behind the subscription model of game company Stardock. You pay a subscription to their Total Gaming.net system and you get all those games for "free" for the price or your subscription. If you let your subscription lapse you no longer get access to new game but you get to keep the ones you already had plus any further updates.

Then as I was reading this announcement it got me thinking, yea, if I had a subscription and it lapsed then FD would stop working. That, IMHO is bad and seems to have been listened to. Good show.

I wondered why the question wasn't asked before the subscription announcement (Nick's asked in the past how FD users would feel about RSS ads and other issues, right?), but this worked out just as well. In fact, ironically, lots of Tom-Peters-type research suggests that people have a higher satisfaction after something is FIXED than when it's done right in the first place. So Nick's a good guy *and* a clever marketing strategist? :-) Neat trick.

Awesome job. I'm very willing to go forward with a subscription model for the synching capabilities, and if I don't feel I need them, it's great to know I can still use one of the best pieces of software on the market.

On another note, what you've done for your customers is asonishing. You're really making NewsGator a comany that I can fully trust -- and that list is getting fewer by the day. A couple others like that are Google and Thoughts Media, Inc.

I think you've made a good decision. I actually rather like this subscription based model that you're planning. It's definitely worked for a few other companies that I know of. Stardock for instance. You pay a yearly fee and you get any software and updates that they put in a particular category (ObjectDesktop) for free during your subscription. If you let your subscription run out you can still use the software that you have but you just can't get any new versions until you upgrade.

I am a subscriber to Stardock too, and I really enjoy their model: subscription brings you patches, updates, and new versions. Once the subscription stops, you remain with the last program version you had downloaded.

"*Nothing* beats software built by someone who listens to his customers!!!"

Way to go Nick and Newsgator. Thank you so much for listening. I think you've made all customers happy - those for and against the subscription-ware.

Thank you also for respecting us enough to share your thoughts with us on this BEFORE decisions were made and steps taken toward implementation. Do that too much, let us think for ourselves and contribute positively toward change, and you'll have a cult following (bigger than the one you've already got!) haha Good job.

I'm glad about this change, which brings the model closer to the familiar support/update contracts that we know from business software: as long as pay, you'll get the hottest and freshest, when you stop, you at least keep the software.

Ditto on the other comments, the subscription model you were going to convert to really caused me to second guess my purchase of feed demon. This is a MUCH better alternative. I bought a peice of software that I could use as long as I wanted, to take that away was a horrible Idea. I still plan on buying feeddemon upgrades but the online subscription service isn't for me. I'll just snag one occasionally to get the latest FD.

I think you've hit the issue fairly between the eyes ... and made a lot of long-term customers for Newsgator in the process. If anyone is unhappy with this deal, they've got rocks in their heads! I'll be much more inclined to buy into a long-term subscription NOW THAT I DON'T HAVE TO. :)

This is great news. I was about to post in your other blog entry that this is what you should do.

I think the subscription idea for extra features is great, and I will probably continue to subscribe after my first "free" years are up. I support paying for this *service* becuase that is what it is. NewGator must run servers and pay for bandwidth to support my desire to keep my feed sync'd between different computers. I wouldn't expect the company to provide this for free, and if it did the price of FeedDemon would probably have to increase substantially, which I wouldn't like.

FeedDemon itself though is a product like Word. At this point it is a stand alone RSS reader, that doesn't require any NewGator servers, only RSS feeds. I definitely would not want this to change. If I decide that I don't like/need the new features in FeedDemon 2.0 I should be able to stick w/ 1.5 forever, and not worry about having to resubscribe. I bought the software. Just like I can still be using Word 95 today, if that fits my needs. I'm not a person that stays with the old versions, but there is a comfort level in this way of purchasing and using software.

So bottom line, I love the multiple computer sync idea, and will be a subscriber, but that subscription should have no effect on how I use FeedDemon today.

Nick, I was wondering the same thing until I read Newsguter's (aka LIEMAN?)messages over on the NG support forums. With the firmly-held preconceived notion that subscription-based software is bad, Newsguter set out to prove that FD used the subscription model, completing ignoring the fact that (a) he was testing his theory with beta software, (b) you hadn't had time to write the subscription code out of the beta software, and (c) paranoid individuals find exactly what they're looking for 100% of the time regardless of the variables.

Of course, I could be wrong. He could simply be shilling for LEMON-LIEMAN.com (sorry, bad West Wing joke).

Thank you for listening to your users and for changing the subscription model. Personally, I'd like to see an option to completely turn off anything newsgator. I don't use it, and have no intention of doing so.